Windmill



rica.'

MCALLISTER, OF SOUTH READING, MASSACHUSETTS.

WINDMILL.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 23,982, dated May 10, 18'59.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM MoALLIs'rER, of South Reading, in the county of Middlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Windmills; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation showing two opposite wings, the one moving with the wind, the other against it; Fig. 2 is an edge view of one of the wings moving against the wind; and Fig. 3 is a similar view of one of the wings moving in the opposite direction, part of the sails being lowered so that less surface may be presented to the wind.

Like parts are indicated by the same letters and figures in all the drawings.

The nature of my invention consists in arrangin on each wing a series of narrow sails con ned at their upper edges to horizontal rods the two extremities of which slide on vertical rods at the sides of the wings, said sails (or rather the rods to which they are attached) being connected by means of cords s, s, so that by raising, or lowering, the top sail, by means of rope, I, all the sails may be raised or lowered, and more or less surface presented to the wind as may be desired; while the sails, being so narrow and light, are more easily raised when moving against the wind, and with less napping, as well as more rapidly, than would be the case if each sail were suiciently large to constitute a wing of itself.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will now describe its construction and operation.

A is a wooden frame.

B is a shaft of wood, or iron, which is held in a vertical position by means of the frame, A, or by passing into a building which operates as an equivalent for A.

C is a circular plate of sheet iron through the center of which is a hole sufciently large to allow its slipping over the top of the shaft till it reaches the shoulder, as seen in-Fig. 1, where it is confined.

E are arms the inner ends of which are screwed, or otherwise confined, to the plate, C. These arms (of which there may be six or eight, more or less) are made of wood or metal.

F are the wing frames, either of wood or metal, and confined to the outer ends of the arms, E, as shown in Fig. 1, parallel with the shaft B.

(see Fig. 1) are wires or cords, passingv from side to side of the frame of the wings, and forming a net, or support, for the sails to press against.

a, b, c, d, are rods to which the upper edges of the rails, 1, 2, 3, 4, are attached, the ends of said rods being bent so as to form rings to slide on the vertical rods, G, (see Figs. 2 and 3). .These rods, a, b, c, d, as shown in Fig. 1, are connected by means of two cords, S, S, so that by raising or lowering the top rod, all the others may also be raised or lowered.

D is a circular plate of iron confined to the-top of the shaft, B, as represented in Fig. 1, by means of a screw.V

I-I is a ring fitting loosely around the shaft,

B, and held in place by means of a pin, ori

I is a cord, or rope, attached to the top wire, a, and passing thence (as shown in Fig. 1) through a hole in the top of the frame, F; thence through a hole in plate, D; thence through a hole in plate, C; thence downward between the ring, H, and shaft, B; thence through a hole in the bottom of frame F; and thence up to the wire, 0:, where it is again confined.

By means of the cord, I, it is obvious that the sails may be readily raised, or lowered, at pleasure,-pulling the cord in one direction raising them, and pulling it in the opposite direction lowering them.

Fig. 1 represents all the sails expanded, or raised, to their full extent so as to present as much surface as possible to the wind; and Fig. 3 represents the sails lowered so as to present only half as much surface to the wind; while it is equally plain that they may be lowered still further so as to present little, or no, surface at all, to the moving element. It is also obvious that the sails, on one side of the wheel, will be blown against the frames, F; while those on the opposite side will be blown out nearly hori- Zontally from the frames, as shown in Fig. 2: and as the sails are so light and narrow, they will be easily and rapidly raised and depressed, and with comparatively little apping-each sail operating like a narrow valve opening only in one direction.

The whole apparatus is extremely simple,

cheap, and easily regulated to the Varying stantially as set'forth, and operating n cornveloeity of the Wind and the amount of binaton with the adjusting ropes, I, subin oWer required. stantally as, and for the purposes, described. i

What I claim as my invention and desire g 5 to secure by Letters Patent, is'-7 WILLIAM MCALLISTER' The series of narrow sails, l, 2, 3, 4, at- VVltnesses: Jmched to vertically sliding rods, a, b, c, d, N. AMES, and united by means of the cords, S, S, sub- A. S. HALL. 

